MARCH 31, 2023

TO RESPOND WITH A COMMENT OF YOUR OWN, PLEASE WRITE TO OR CLICK ON WHSALUM63@AOL.COM. 

Hi Harvesters of Orange & Brown Memories, 

Howard Spatz (64) brings sad news about a long-time friend:

I am sad to say that my good friend Richard Brotspies, WHS 1964, passed away on March 18, 2023. We were best friends from the first day of high school. 63 years. Ritchie leaves behind his wife Carol, two children, and five grandchildren. May he rest in peace. His obituary can be read at Richard Brotspies Obituary. Howard

Larry Bembry (67) shares a recent newsclip and article in which he is featured:

The link, below, is to an article in which I am featured concerning my involvement in a student protest at Belmont Abbey College in 1969. I was attending the school on a basketball scholarship. The clip was shown as a notable event as part of a North Carolina TV News feature during Black History Month, February 2023. The inset to the right contains the clip itself: 1969 Belmont Abbey Demonstration. Larry

Pharmacy Doses:

Rita Bleckner Weisstuch's (6/59)

Correction on my own note; Rubin Brothers Pharmacy was on Bergen at Shepherd, not Renner. Rita

Ronald Price (65).

Herman Scherzer was the owner and pharmacist at Lehigh Drugs on the corner of Lehigh Avenue and Bergen Street. His brother, Sidney, was the owner of Scherzer's Drug Store on the corner of Elizabeth Avenue and West Bigelow Street, just across the street from the multi-story Sears & Roebuck building. That building is now a storage facility for Brantley Brothers Moving & Storage and has the same blue-green facade. I do not recall ever going into the Sears building.

I worked part-time at Scherzer's Drug Store for, I think, 25 cents or 35 cents per hour. I commuted there on the Number 27 bus, which began its run on Hawthorne Avenue and Fabyan Place. I lived in the apartment building across the street from that stop (565 Hawthorne Avenue) above the Allied TV and Radio Store. The building also housed a candy store (Charlie's?) and perhaps another business (a tailor's shop?). The building was not impacted by the construction of I-78, but no longer stands. In its place is a duplex home.

Very often, Mr. Sidney Scherzer would ask me to run an "oblige" to his brother's drug store. An oblige is when one pharmacist cannot fill a prescription with drugs on hand and would buy them from another drug store at cost so as not to lose a sale. I suppose the economics were in favor of such transactions. But I do remember that I spent a fair amount of my time running obliges to and from the Scherzer businesses or other drug stores.

Barbara Scherzer was the daughter of Sidney and was in my senior English class. Ronald

Matt Naula (59)

In answer to Sharon Rous Feinsod (66), the owner of Kaye’s Drugs was Louis Kaye, not the person mentioned in the article, Les Isaacson. Matt

Francine Solomon Finkel (67)

I worked at Rubin Bros on Chancellor Avenue and never knew they were in other places. Marty Bodner was a pharmacist there along with all the pharmacy students from interning Rutgers. Mr. & Mrs. Rubin and their son Duffy were in the store, too. It was a very good experience and helped me to decide my future profession as a medical technologist. Francine

Bonnie Gray Kye (6/60)

To Jac Toporek (6/63), the drug store at Renner and Bergen was Weissman's. The pharmacy was small with a soda fountain. Bonnie

Jon Lazarus (WHS 58/West Orange 60)

I believe Rita Bleckner Weisstuch's (6/59) reference to Rubin Bros being the drug store on the corner of Bergen Street and Renner Avenue is incorrect. Rubin Bros was located at Bergen Street and Shepherd Avenue. She is referencing the pharmacy on the corner of Bergen and Renner, Weissman’s, run by the amiable, cigar-chomping Herman Weissman. Both my dad, Stuart Lazarus, and Herman were pharmacists and had a cordial, collegial relationship. Jon

Wilfredo Nieves (66)

I worked for Herman Scherzer at the Lehigh Drug Store my senior year at Weequahic and several years after while attending college. Herman was a kind and gentle man; always teaching and wanting to help. He was a mentor and friend. I learned many things during those years that I value and hold dear.

Wilfredo

Susan Bateman Rabinowitz (66)

Speaking of pharmacies, I worked at Rubin Bros on Chancellor Avenue. To this day, the things I learned at that pharmacy and throughout my work life have helped me to interpret the complex world of medications. Another Chancellor Avenue special memory. Susan

Memryquahics:   

Nate Himelstein (South Side1/55)

Does anyone remember the most delicious chocolate layer cake from Mittleman’s bakery on Maple Avenue in Hillside and also Joey Mittleman? Nate

Arnie Kon (56)

Via the weekly newsletter, I recently was sad to learn of the death of Marilyn Mickie Klein who was my neighbor and classmate for 12 years. I also just read an obituary for Gladys Feldman Cohen. Gladys and Mickie were cousins and Gladys also lived on Peshine Avenue. The real irony is that Gladys lived in Green Brier in Monroe, NJ, where I presently live. We lived together as youngsters and as retired adults.   Arnie

Sara Friedman Fishkin (6/60)

Read many comments about Ming’s throughout the years, but I did have a negative experience. It was Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) in 1958 or 1959 and my then boyfriend Bob Novick and I went to Ming’s. I ordered Lobster Cantonese. Shortly thereafter, not only was I sick but the diagnosis was ptomaine poisoning. That was my last trip to Ming’s and I never ate Lobster Cantonese again. Was this God’s retribution for a day dedicated to fasting? A likely "yes." Sara  

Mel Rubin (56)

In response to Arnie Kohn (56), Arnie, the “munn” you refer to is Yiddish for poppy seed. You were in luck at the recently passed Purim, the Jewish holiday which features “hamantaschen” (translates into the three-cornered hat that the infamous Hamen wore in the Story of Esther read in synagogues on Purim). You can request “munn hamantaschen” from Jewish bakers.

I live in Lakewood and am surrounded by them, bakers that is. Boy, I thought the Weequahic section was Jewish. Lakewood makes us pale in comparison. When we were in Israel, we visited Mea She’arim, where the ultra-orthodox live. And we basked in the old-world shtetl (little village) charm. Now I am virtually surrounded by the shtetl, numbering close to a hundred thousand and growing. Oy, am I basking!

I remember walking to the Talmud Torah Synagogue on Osborne Terrace every Shabbos (Sabbath). Now, on every Saturday, there is a parade in full regalia. Purim holds fond memories for me. I met Sharon (Hillside 56), my wife of almost 63 years at a Purim festival at AABC in Irvington in our senior year. I discovered later that my parents also met at a Purim festival in Irvington a few decades before.

Regarding poppy seed, do you remember that episode in Seinfeld when Elaine would eat a poppy seed bagel every day? They ran a drug test on her and she tested positive for heroin from the poppy seed bagel. Of course, that was far-fetched, but maybe that was why we were a little meshuga (crazy) in high school from all those poppy seed bagels? Who knows? Mel